Head Coach Jerod Mayo 9/15: "We have to get better as a team"

Jerod Mayo (0:00)

That one hurts, but look, I told the team, it's a Wednesday in our world, we have to be ready to change the page and move on and get ready to win this next football game. This is NFL football. It's one play here, one play there. You just never know which play it is. And it's easy to try to pick out some plays here and there, but it's all of us. We have to get better as a team and look forward to getting back on the practice field, getting better.

SPEAKER_2 (0:28)

Jerod, how much do you learn from this one? You had the block field goal, which certainly cost you some points, and then they came and got a field goal. And then at the end, the 47-yard run set you guys up nicely. Kind of a lot of little things. How much do you learn from a game like this?

Jerod Mayo (0:41)

I mean, that's a great question. That's part of my message. It's all about the details. We get the little things, right? The big things will take care of themselves, and we just didn't take care of the little things, and we weren't as detailed, well, I should say, on top of our P's and Q's like we should have been, which is my responsibility. And look, I take 100% responsibility, and, you know, look, these guys, I will say this, like, this is a tough football team, no matter what's said outside this building, and I told these guys that as well. Look, we're a tough football team, not only physically, but also mentally. I appreciate their effort. It just wasn't enough today.

SPEAKER_3 (1:14)

Jerod, you've mentioned that this is clearly a tough football team, but in seeing today's game, the limited passing attack, only three completions to receivers. Do you think at all today's game showed the limitations you guys have right now on offense?

Jerod Mayo (1:26)

I'm not sure. You know, each team is going to try to attack in different ways. Well, we definitely have to start to get the ball down the field. We got to start pushing the ball down the field to, you know, get that shell defense, the two high... I'm sorry, to get that, yeah, shell defense, and we got to be able to run, we got to be able to pass. We just got to go be able to ping pong between the two. It's something that we need to work on. That's what I would say.

SPEAKER_4 (1:47)

Jerod, on the third and one there, Taekwondo's in the backfield, unbalanced line. You talk about being a tough physical football team. Did you maybe get too cute there?

Jerod Mayo (1:56)

Yeah, that's all on us. That's on us as coaches. I don't put anything on the player. Look, he was in there at times. He had to report. Then he played some tackle, and there was some confusion, but once again, there was no receiver outside of him. And so that's our fault, 100%.

SPEAKER_4 (2:11)

But from a mentality standpoint, Jerod, just kind of like trying to drive the ball down people's throat and in that case, felt like tried to do something, I don't know, fancy might be the wrong word, but.

Jerod Mayo (2:21)

No, I don't think we tried to do anything fancy. I think we tried to, you know, run the plays that we felt pretty comfortable with going into the game, and then at halftime made some adjustments. And this isn't a fancy football team. This is one of those teams, whether we throw it or run it, that we just had to be a tough football team, but at the same time had to be smart. And we had to be able to go out there and line up and be mentally tough on a down after down basis.

SPEAKER_2 (2:45)

Hey, Jerod, how much consideration did you guys have for going for it on fourth and one in overtime?

Jerod Mayo (2:53)

I would say there's some consideration. There's always consideration in those weird spots, especially when you get in the plus side of the field. I did what I thought was best.

SPEAKER_2 (3:03)

And then with Okorafor leaving the team, did that surprise you at all?

SPEAKER_4 (3:07)

How would you describe your conversations with him?

Jerod Mayo (3:09)

I would say, you know, I had a conversation with Chukes, and it had nothing to do with football. It had everything to do with just checking on him as a man. It was a good conversation. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

SPEAKER_4 (3:21)

Josh Pogradiere?

Josh Pogradiere (3:24)

Jerod, what worked very well for you guys in Cincinnati was not giving up the big play. And today Metcalf had that catch in the first, and obviously the blocked field goal. Was that the difference in the game?